A friend of mine was telling me about his Dad's domain issue and asked that I see if I could figure out a solution. This may turn into a small ongoing project for me. I'm not clear about domain buying and how this particular situation impacts it. Hopefully someone can assist.

So .... the story is that Dad hired a local web guy ("Bob") to set-up a website ("mystuff.com"). Bob purchased the domain from GoDaddy as his own rather than register Dad as the owner and then charged Dad a fee to host and maintain the site. Bob would stop by Dad's business to pick up his check and would be given changes that Bob never would make. Dad eventually fired Bob and the site was shut down.

The site is up for renewal and actually expired the middle of August. Bob is still listed as the site owner. Bob has indicated to Dad that the site will be up for sale soon.

Given that I've seen GoDaddy hold onto available sites if you check for domain availability through their site, I don't want to poke too far into this at GoDaddy until I understand how this all works.

Can anyone give me a quick read into this??

And, for those that host their clients' domains and aid in the purchasing of the domain for the client, don't you register the client as the owner?? I know I would, it would definitely keep yourself arms-length in a business situation. But is this standard to register yourself as the owner???

Thanks!!!

Kim

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Kim Alvis, Managing Director
Cardinal Point Business Associates

Hi Kim,
I'm not sure what to say about the domain status issue - other than to suggest you have your client put a reserve on it. I think you can pay $19 through GoDaddy to have them snag it on your client's behalf should it not be renewed by Bob.

What I wanted to address is Bob's highly unusual method of securing a site for his client. We do host for some of our clients but we always insist that they purchase their own domains with their own credit cards. Sounds like this guy who is supposed to own the site got taken for a bit of a ride - which is really too bad. I hope he's able to recover his domain.

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Hi Kim,

I agree with your assessment of GoDaddy holding onto domains after having them checked for availability on their site. I have a client who specializes in internet marketing and we uncovered this rather unsavory fact after some digging and it's been documented both on the net and I have seen it happen personally, so good for you for exercising caution in that regard.

Secondly, I agree with Tess regarding Bob's "highly unusual method of securing a site for his client". Regardless of who is hosting the client's domain, the domain belongs to the client and should be registered as such. Doing anything other than this would be unethical and I would agree that your Dad (like many before him ) has been taken advantage of. I also agree that he doesn't have much recourse, except to hope that he can recover it eventually, I wish him luck.

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Kate V. Kerans
Kerans Virtual Assistance

Thank you for your replies! I'll advise PC how to go about putting a reserve on the domain.

As for Bob, I was stunned when my friend was telling me about it. I wanted to make sure that my opinion was inline with what everyone else practices as it relates to the client purchasing the domain. Not that it would change my mind if what Bob did was standard. Having a client purchase the domain not only protects the client - it protects you and your business. While you try to associate with reputable folks, you just never know.

As for GoDaddy, I personally had it happen to me when I checked into a domain for my hubby's blog on their site. GoDaddy nabbed it for about a month, but I waited them out. I "smartened-up" and used whois[.]net until it popped up again and got it. So there :prrr: GoDaddy

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Kim Alvis, Managing Director
Cardinal Point Business Associates

Kim~

While your story is sad, I am finding that it isn't uncommon. I know of several other people who have hired someone to acquire domains and build sites and later found that they didn't even own their domain. The audacity of some people really amazes me.

As for GoDaddy, I had one very unsavory experience on behalf of a client and try to steer people away from them at every opportunity. Yes, they are cheap, but you get what you pay for. I have a very reliable web host/designer/registrar that I send all my clients to. If they ask me to take care of it for them, I register with their name and using their credit card.

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Lorri Morin, CPVA
www.virtualsynergy.net